The present invention relates to an assembling apparatus for use in an assembly process for assembling a roller type universal joint such as a tri-pod type constant velocity joint. More specifically, the apparatus is provided for assembling a roller to each of a plurality of projections on an outer periphery of a spider attached to an end of a shaft and then assembling an outer member around the spider. Additionally the invention is directed to a roller assembling unit used in the assembling apparatus.
For assembling a roller of this kind and an outer member, it has been usual to manually mount a roller to each of the projections of the spider and then, while maintaining the attitude of the roller, manually orient an outer member in such a manner that it may be so adjusted in phase as to have the roller inserted into a roller-rolling groove on the inner periphery thereof.
The manual assembling process such as one described above has a low productivity, so that an automation of the assembling operations is much desired.
In this case, if the assembling of the roller is performed at one station and that of the outer member at the other, the roller can fall off from the spider while the shaft is in transit. For this reason, it is necessary to arrange on a single station the number of roller assembling means corresponding to that of the projections of the spider, outer member assembling means, and means for setting the roller to each of the roller assembling means. The disposition of these so as not to interfere with one another has been a problem to solve for materialization of the automation.